The sea of change in Africa and the Middle East seem to follow one wave after another. After Tunisia and Egypt who successfully unseated their despots, we heard of similar uprisings in the region. Algeria is boiling and another country, the Kingdom of Bahrain, may soon follow.
In its attempt to pre-empt next week's protests, it was announced on Friday that the king will give 1,000 dinars ($2,650) to each family, Al Jazeera reported.
The Bahraini News Agency said, "On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter and as a sign of appreciation for the people of Bahrain who have approved it, King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa has ordered 1,000 dinars to be paid to every Bahraini family."
The dole out in the island country within the Persian Gulf, was seen as the latest move of the Sunni rulers to tame the public, majority of whom are Shi'ites.
Similar to Egypt and Tunisia, activists in the 33-island archipelago with an estimated 800,000 inhabitants called for economic, political, and social reforms beginning Monday.
In the previous weeks, the government offered to release some youth arrested during the crackdown against some Shi'ite groups last August and promised to increase social spending.
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